"Golf Emperor" that debuted on the Sports-PGA Tour
It is another name for El Cardón at Diamante (par 72) in Los Cabos, Mexico, where the PGA Tour's Worldwide Technology Championship (total prize money of $8.2 million, hereinafter referred to as the WWT Championship) will be held this week. The WWT Championship, a PGA Tour tournament held in Mexico since 2007, was held at El Chameleon Golf Course in Riviera Maya until last year. However, LIV Golf, sponsored by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund (PIF), chose the same golf course as the venue for the first tournament in 2023. This is because it was designed by LIV CEO Greg Norman. The WWT Championship, which lost its golf course, which had long held the tournament, moved the El Cardonal at Diamanteau designed by Woods. Completed in 2014, the course was designed by Woods himself. It is known that he designed and produced it by utilizing his experience of playing in many courses as a player himself. This is the first time that a PGA Tour tournament will be held on a course designed by Woods. Woods said of the course, "I designed it so that the golfer thinks and is at a crossroads of choice. We have to approach it from different angles because we have made sure that there are various ways to play in all holes," he explained. For this reason, the winner's score of the WWT Championship attracts the attention of golf fans. The tournament was able to win only after recording 20 under par or more for the last five consecutive years at El Chameleon Golf Course. Therefore, questions have grown as to whether PGA Tour players will find it difficult to change the course, especially one designed by Woods himself. In fact, this course is wider than other courses with fairways and greens. The PGA Tour analyzed that the green is 23% larger than Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, Italy, where the Ryder Cup was held this year. However, as it is located at the end of the Baja Peninsula, which splits from California, the U.S., not from Mexico, it is said to have large weather variables such as strong winds due to the Gulf of California in the east and the Pacific Ocean in the west. Matt Kucha of the U.S., who had eight birdies and blocked one bogey on the first day of the tournament, said, "The characteristic of this place is the generous fairway," adding, "So the second shot is even more important." "This is especially true of the back nine than the front nine," he said. Of the 132 players who participated in the tournament, 99 players scored under par in the first round. The over-par score was only 19. The best performance in the first round was 10 under par by Cameron Percy (Australia), who had one eagle and eight birdies.